Ludwig Devrient

* 15.12.1774 in Berlin; ✝ 30.12.1832 in Berlin

Actor

Biography

Ludwig Devrient was the uncle of Eduard and Emil Devrient. He began his theatrical career among those troupes of travelling players, whose continuing activity was still to be observed in the 19^th century. In 1805 he accepted an engagement in Dessau, and in 1809 moved to Breslau, where he enjoyed great success, above all for his King Lear. In 1815 he returned to Berlin as successor to Wilhelm Iffland at the Court Theatre, where he remained until his death in 1832.

Devrient distinguished himself from the actors of the Weimar Court Theatre with his passionate – some went so far as to call it ‘demonic’ – acting style. The picture his contemporaries left of him is that of an actor of visionary intensity, whose artistic triumphs were offset by his tragic real-life inability to adapt to bourgeois conventions. He died of alcoholism at a comparatively young age.

Shakespeare Roles

• Lear (King Lear)
• Clarence (Richard III)
• Falstaff/Henry IV (King Henry IV)
• Shylock (The Merchant of Venice)
• Mercutio (Romeo und Juliet)

Literature

Secondary Literature

• Altman, Georg: Ludwig Devrient. Leben und Werke eines Schauspielers. Berlin, 1926.
• Kruse, Georg: Ludwig Devrient. Sein Leben und seine Schauspielkunst. München, 1924.
• Piana, Theo: Lodernde Flamme. Aufgang und Untergang des Schauspielers Ludwig Devrient. Berlin, 1957.
• Smidt, Heinrich: Ludwig Devrient. Berlin, 1833.

Album pages with this person

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